Integrated analysis of microRNA and mRNA expression profiles in Preeclampsia

BACKGROUND: Preeclampsia (PE), a pregnancy specific syndrome, is one kind of common gestational hypertension disease, which can cause maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. This study was conducted to identify key microRNAs (miRNAs), mRNAs and related signaling pathways in the pathogenesis of PE. METHODS: Whole transcriptome sequencing and small RNA sequencing of the peripheral blood from 3 PE patients and 3 normal pregnant women were performed. Differential expressed (DE) miRNAs were identified using the DEseq2 package. Target genes of the selected upregulated and downregulated DE miRNAs were predicted. Based on the hypergeometric distribution of DE miRNA target genes, we analyzed GO enrichment and KEGG pathway enrichment using R. RESULTS: Total 1291 and 1281 novel RNAs were obtained from the preeclampsia patients and healthy individuals. 70 miRNAs were screened out with significant levels with 51 significantly upregulated and 19 significantly downregulated. 44,306 genes were predicted as the targets of these miRNAs. Besides, KEGG pathway analysis revealed that the upregulated miRNAs were enriched in Glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis-chondroitin sulfate / dermatan sulfate, Base excision repair and the downregulated miRNAs were enriched in Tuberculosis, Phagosome. CONCLUSION: We constructed regulatory networks of miRNAs and target genes, there were 2208 negative miRNA-mRNA interactions in total. The network and pathway information illustrate the potential functions of mRNAs and miRNAs in PE pathogenesis.